Test 4 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Silbo Gomero — the whistle ‘language’ of the Canary Islands La Gomera is one of the Canary Islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Aftica. This small volcanic island is mountainous, with steep rocky slopes and deep, wooded ravines, rising to 1,487 metres at its highest peak. It is also home to the best known of the world’s whistle ‘languages’, a means of transmitting information over long distances which is perfectly adapted to the extreme terrain of the island. ‘This ‘language’, known as ‘Silbo’ or ‘Silbo Gomero’ — from the Spanish word for ‘whistle’ ~ is now shedding light on the language-processing abilities of the human brain, according to scientists. Researchers say that Silbo activates parts of the brain normally associated with spoken language, suggesting that the brain is remarkably flexible in its ability to interpret sounds as language. “Science has developed the idea of brain areas that are dedicated to language, and we are starting, to understand the scope of signals that can be recognised as language,’ says David Corina, co-author of a recent study and associate professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle Silbo is a substitute for Spanish, with individual words recoded into whistles which have high- and low-frequency tones. A whistler - or silbador ~ puts a finger in his or her mouth to increase the whistle’s pitch, while the other hand can be cupped to adjust the direction of the sound. ‘There is much mote ambiguity in the whistled signal than in the spoken signal,’ explains lead researcher Manuel Carreiras, psychology professor at the University of La Laguna on the Canary island of Tenerife. Because whistled ‘words’ can be hard to distinguish, silbadores rely on repetition, as, well as awareness of context, to make themselves understood. The silbadores of Gomera are traditionally shepherds and other isolated mountain folk, and their novel means of staying in touch allows them to communicate over distances of up to 10 kilometres. Carreiras explains that silbadores are able to pass a surprising amount of information via their whistles. ‘In daily life they use whistles to communicate short commands, but any Spanish sentence could be whistled.’ Silbo has proved particularly useful when fires have occurred on the island and rapid communication across large areas has been vital. 84Reading ‘The study team used neuroimaging equipment to contrast the brain activity of silbadores while listening to whistled and spoken Spanish. Results showed the left temporal lobe of the brain, which is usually associated with spoken language, was engaged during the processing of Silbo. ‘The researchers found that other key regions in the brain’s frontal lobe also responded to the whistles, including those activated in response to sign language among deaf people. When the experiments were repeated with non-whistlers, however, activation was observed in all areas of the brain. ‘Our results provide more evidence about the flexibility of human capacity for language in a variety of forms,’ Corina says. ‘These data suggest that left-hemisphere language regions are uniquely adapted for communicative purposes, independent of the modality of signal. The non- Silbo speakers were not recognising Silbo as a language. They had nothing to grab onto, s0 multiple areas of their brains were activated.” Carreiras says the origins of Silbo Gomero remain obscure, but that indigenous Canary Islanders, who were of North African origin, already had a whistled language when Spain conquered the volcanic islands in the 15th century. Whistled languages survive today in Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Vietnam, Guyana, China, Nepal, Senegal, and a few mountainous pockets in southern Europe. There ate thought to be as many as 70 whistled languages still in use, though only 12 have been described and studied scientifically. This form of communication is an adaptation found among cultures where people are often isolated from each other, according to Julien Meyer, a researcher at the Institute of Human Sciences in Lyon, France. ‘They are mostly used in mountains or dense forests,’ he says. ‘Whistled languages are quite clearly defined and represent an original adaptation of the spoken language for the needs of isolated human groups.’ But with modern communication technology now widely available, researchers say whistled languages like Silbo are threatened with extinction. With dwindling numbers of Gomera islanders still fluent in the language, Canaries’ authorities are taking steps to try to ensure its survival. Since 1999, Silbo Gomero has been taught in all of the island’s elementary schools. In addition, locals are seeking assistance from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ‘The local authorities are trying to get an award from the organisation to declare [Silbo Gomero] as something that should be preserved for humanity, Carreiras adds.| Test 4 | Questions 14-19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? dn boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet, write 14 15 16 17 18 19 86 TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN _ if there is no information on this La Gomera is the most mountainous of all the Canary Islands. Silbo is only appropriate for short and simple messages. In the brain-activity study, silbadores and non-whistlers produced different results. The Spanish introduced Silbo to the islands in the 15th century. There is precise data available regarding all of the whistle languages in existence today. The children of Gomera now learn Silbo.Reading Questions 20-26 Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet. Silbo Gomero How Silbo is produced « high- and low-frequency tones represent different sounds in Spanish 20... ss * pitch of whistle is controlled using silbador's 21 BR races smn &§ Changed with a cupped hand How Silbo is used + has long been used by shepherds and people living in secluded locations © in everyday use for the transmission of brief 23 ..ccmnmnnnn * can relay essential information quickly, e.g. to inform people about 24... el The future of Silbo « future under threat because of new 25 * Canaries’ authorities hoping to receive a UNESCO 26... wu to help preserve it 1D p. 126 87sm Test 4 READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. Environmental practices of big businesses ‘The environmental practices of big businesses are shaped by a fundamental fact that for many of us offends our sense of justice. Depending on the circumstances, a business may maximize the amount of money it makes, at least in the short term, by damaging the environment and hurting people, That is still the case today for fishermen in an unmanaged fishery without quotas, and for international logging companies with short-term leases on tropical rainforest land in places with corrupt officials and unsophisticated landowners. When government regulation is effective, and when the public is environmentally aware, environmentally clean big businesses may out-compete dirty ones, but the reverse is likely to be true if government regulation is ineffective and if the public doesn’t care. It is easy for the rest of us to blame a business for helping itself by hurting other people. But blaming alone is unlikely to produce change. It ignores the fact that businesses are not charities but profit-making companies, and that publicly owned companies with shareholders are under obligation to those shareholders to maximize profits, provided that they do so by Jegal means. US laws make a company’s directors legally liable for something termed ‘breach of fiduciary responsibility’ if they knowingly manage a company in a way that reduces profits. The car manufacturer Henry Ford was in fact successfully sued by shareholders in 1919 for raising the minimum wage of his workers to $5 per day: the courts declared that, while Ford’s humanitarian sentiments about his employees were nice, his business existed to make profits for its stockholders. Our blaming of businesses also ignores the ultimate responsibility of the public for creating the conditions that let a business profit through destructive environmental policies. In the long run, it is the public, either directly or through its politicians, that has the power to make such destructive policies unprofitable and illegal, and to make sustainable environmental policies profitable. The public can do that by suing businesses for harming them, as happened after the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which over 40,000m? of oil were spilled off the coast of Alaska. The public may also make their opinion felt by preferring to buy sustainably harvested products; by making employees of companies with poor track records feel ashamed of their company and complain to their own management; by preferring their governments to award valuable contracts to businesses with a good environmental track record; and by pressing their governments to pass and enforce laws and regulations requiring good environmental practices. 88Reading In turn, big businesses can exert powerful pressure’ on any suppliers that might ignore public or government pressure, For instance, after the US public became concerned about the spread ofa disease known as BSE, which was transmitted to humans through infected meat, the US sgovernment’s Food and Drug Administration introduced rules demanding that the meat industry abandon practices associated with the risk of the disease spreading, But for five years the meat packers refused to follow these, claiming that they would be too expensive to obey. However, when a major fast-food company then made the same demands after customer purchases of its hamburgers plummeted, the meat industry complied within weeks. The public’s task is therefore to identify which links in the supply chain are sensitive to public pressure: for instance, fast-food chains or jewelry stores, but not meat packers or gold miners. ‘Some readers may be disappointed or outraged that I place the ultimate responsibility for business practices harming the public on the public itself. I also believe that the public must accept the necessity for higher prices for products to cover the added costs, if any, of sound environmental practices. My views may seem to ignore the belief that businesses should act in accordance with moral principles even if this leads to a reduction in their profits. But I think we have to recognize that, throughout human history, in all politically complex human societies, government regulation has arisen precisely because it was found that not only did moral principles need to be made explicit, they also needed to be enforced. To me, the conclusion that the public has the ultimate responsibility for the behavior of even the biggest businesses is empowering and hopeful, rather than disappointing. My conclusion is not a moralistic one about who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish, a good guy or a bad guy. In the past, businesses have changed when the public came to expect and require different behavior, to reward businesses for behavior that the public wanted, and to make things difficult for businesses practicing behaviors that the public didn’t want. I predict that in the future, just as in the past, changes in public attitudes will be essential for changes in businesses’ environmental practices. 89Test 4 Questions 27-31 Complete the summary using the list of words, A~J, below. Write the correct letter, A~J, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet. Big businesses Many big businesses today are prepared to harm people and the environment in order to make money, and they appear to have no 27... see . Lack of 2B vss by governments and lack of public 29...... can fead to environmental problems such 8 30 o.com OF the destruction of BD nines A funding B trees C rare species D_ moralstandards E control F _ involvement G flooding H overfishing I worker support 90Reading Questions 32-34 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 32-34 on your answer sheet. 32 The main idea of the third paragraph is that environmental damage A B c D requires political action if itis to be stopped. is the result of ignorance on the part of the public. could be prevented by the action of ordinary people. can only be stopped by educating business leaders. 33._In the fourth paragraph, the writer describes ways in which the public can A B c D reduce their own individual impact on the environment. learn more about the impact of business on the environment. raise awareness of the effects of specific environmental disasters. influence the environmental policies of businesses and governments. 34 What pressure was exerted by big business in the case of the disease BSE? A B c D Meat packers stopped supplying hamburgers to fast-food chains. A fast-food company forced their meat suppliers to follow the law. Meat packers persuaded the government to reduce their expenses. fast-food company encouraged the government to introduce legislation. ci)Test 4 Questions 35-39 Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 35-39 on your answer sheet, write YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer NOT GIVEN _ if itis impossible to say what the writer thinks about this 35 The public should be prepared to fund good environmental practices. 36 There is a contrast between the moral principles of different businesses. 37 It is important to make a clear distinction between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. 38 The public have successfully influenced businesses in the past. 39 In the future, businesses will show more concern for the environment. Question 40 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet. 40 What would be the best subheading for this passage? Will the world survive the threat caused by big businesses? How can big businesses be encouraged to be less driven by profit? What environmental dangers are caused by the greed of businesses? Are big businesses to blame for the damage they cause the environment? com> 92 >/@ p. 126